The workspace of a sheet of some typical spreadsheet applications comprises a seemingly infinite grid or table that includes a very large number of rows and columns of cells. FIG. 1A illustrates a prior art example of a sheet 100 of a typical spreadsheet application.
Existing spreadsheet applications provide an option to lock or freeze one or more of the leftmost columns of cells and/or topmost rows of cells in place such that the locked rows or columns remain visible when scrolling in the associated sheet. Such a feature may be employed, for example, to keep row and column labels visible while scrolling. FIG. 1B illustrates a prior art example of freezing panes with respect to sheet 100 in a typical spreadsheet application. In the given example, row 1 and column A have been locked, which is visually indicated by a slightly darkened line at the bottom boundary of row 1 and the right side boundary of column A. As depicted, in this view, row 1 remains visible as the other rows are vertically scrolled (in the given example, the other rows have been scrolled such that row 5 is the topmost visible row below locked row 1, i.e., rows 2-4 have been scrolled out of view), and column A remains visible as the other columns are horizontally scrolled (in the given example, the columns have been scrolled such that column C is the leftmost visible column to the right of locked column A, i.e., column B has been scrolled out of view). All cells comprising a locked row or column in a sheet are typically locked, which may not be ideal if multiple different groups of data are created in a single sheet. In such cases, for example, locked rows or columns may be relevant to one group (e.g., may correspond to row and column labels of that group) but not to other groups.
Existing spreadsheet applications provide an option to split the view of a sheet. In a split view, multiple views of the same content are provided, i.e., the content of a sheet is replicated in each split. FIG. 1C illustrates a prior art example of a two-way split of sheet 100, and FIG. 1D illustrates a prior art example of a four-way split of sheet 100. In a typical spilt view of a sheet, rows and columns in a selected view may be scrolled while visible portions of the unselected views remain stationary or unscrolled.
In existing spreadsheet applications, the smallest scrolling increment available is a single row or column. That is, in existing spreadsheet applications, scrolling “jumps” one or more rows or columns in discrete, discontinuous steps. FIG. 1A and FIG. 1E illustrate a prior art example of scrolling cells in a sheet. FIG. 1A illustrates an initial unscrolled view of sheet 100, and FIG. 1E illustrates a view of sheet 100 in which the rows have been scrolled down by the smallest available scrolling increment. As depicted, the smallest scrolling increment results in a jump to the next row. That is, row 1 occupies the topmost row in the unscrolled view of FIG. 1A, and after scrolling down by the smallest available scrolling increment, row 2 occupies the topmost row as depicted in the view of FIG. 1E.